serves, restrain it, that it may not return to thy bosom,.
till thou hast executed judgment on the wicked.
Ver. I2. For God is my King of old, &c.] Or but
God, or verily God, &c. a; for these words contain the
church's consolation under all the above melancholy
circumstances, taken from what God was, and had
been to her, even Christ, who is God over all; he was
her King by the constitution and designation of his fa-
ther, and so he had been of old, even from everlasting;
for so early was he set up as King; and he had in all
ages been exercising his kingly office for the good of
Iris church, and continued to do so; and this was her
comfort, and is the comfort of saints in the worst of
times, that Zion's King reigneth, see Psal. xivi. 1, 2, 3,
5, 7- and xcvii. 1. Isa. iii. 7. working salvation in the
midst of the earth; it is salvations {} in the plural num-
ber, and means both spiritual and eternal salvation,
which the Lord has wrought out; and is continually
applying to his people; and temporal salvation, which
the Lord has been and is daily working out; he conti-
nually protecting his people, and saving them from
their enemies, and delivering them out of their afflic-
tions and temptations; and which the church considers
and improves into an argument to encourage her faith,
and expect the time when her walls would be salva-
tion, and her gates praise; and she should have reason
to say, now is come salvation and strength, and the
k!ngdom of our God and the power of his Christ; and
give him all the glory of it; see Isa. Ix. 18. Rev. xii.
10. and xix. 1. which salvation, as it has been, so will
be wrought in the midst of the earth; meaning not in
the midst of the land of Judea, or in Judea, the middle
of the world, but openly and publicly in all the earth;
though Cyril of Jerusalem saysf Golgotha is the midst
of the earth, where Christ suffered and wrought out
salvation; and that it is here referred to.
Ver. 13. Thou didst divide the sea by .thy strength,
&c.] This and the following instances from hence to
ver. 18 are proofs of God's working salvation in the
midst of the earth; some of them seem peculiar to the
people of Israel, and others are benefits common to
mankind in general; which the church makes use of
to encourage her faith and hope, in expectation of
salvation,'and deliverance out of her present distressed
and melancholy circumstances. This seems to refer
to the Lord's dividing of the Red sea into parts by a
strong east wind, whilst Moses lifted up Iris rod and
stretched out Iris hand as he was ordered, as a token
of the divine power, and so the children of Israel passed
through it as on dry land, Exod. xiv. 2l. and he that
did this can make way for his redeemed ones to return
to Zion with everlasting joy, Isa. li. 10. Some render
the words, thou hast broken the sea by thy strength {g};
subdued and conquered it, and so hast the dominion
over it, rulest the ragingof it, settest bounds to it, and
hast ordered its proud waves to go so far and no far-
ther; and thus the Arabic version, thou hast made it
to stand; and the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin ver-
sions, thou hast confirmed it: but our version is best,
which refers it to the work of God at the Red sea, and
with which the Targum agrees; and Aben Ezra ob-
serves, that some refer it to the dividing of the Red
sea: thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters:
or great whales, as the word is rendered in Gem i. 2l.
bywhich are meant Pharaoh and his generals, his cap-
tains and chief men, who were destroyed in the waters
of the Red sea; cornparable to dragons ibr their strength,
tbr their cruelty to the children of Israel, and for their
wrath and malice against them; and so, for the same
reason, another Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in after-times,
is called the great dragon, that lies in the midst of his
rivers, Ezek. xxix. 3. and xxxii. 2. and the king of
Babylon or of Egypt, Isa. xxvii. 1. So the Targum
paraphrases it: "thou hast broken the heads ofdra-
"gons, and hast suffocated the Egyptians in the sea."
Rome Pagan is compared to a great red dragon with
seven heads and ten horns, which have been broken
and destroyed, Rev. xii. 3, 7, 8, 9. and Rome Papal
has the power, seat, and great authority of the dragon;
and though the Romish antichrist has two horns like
a lamb, he speaks as a dragon, who also has seven
heads and ten horns, and which ere long will be broke
in pieces, see Rev. xiii. 1, 2, 11. and xix. 15. a-rid ii.
27. in the faith of which the church might be strength-
ened, by considering what God had done to the heads
of the dragon in the Red sea; to which may be added
that Satan is called a dragon, Psal. xci. 13. Rev. xii.
9. and xx. o.. whose head was bruised, and his princi-
palities and powers spoiled, by Christ at his death, and
will be utterly destroyed at his second coming.
Ver. 14. Thou breakcut the heads of leviathan in pieces,
&c.] A large fish, generally thought to be the whale,
by some the crocodile, described in Job xli. to which
the king of Egypt or Babylon is compared, Isa. xxvii.
1. and so the Romish antichrist in one of his characters
is represented as a sea-beast with many heads, which
will all be broken in pieces in due time, Rev. xiii. 1. as
here is one leviathan with heads in the plural number.
Aben Ezra thinks the word *** is wanting, and may be
supplied thus, thou hast broken the heads of every levi-
athan; it may be interpreted as before of Pharaoh and
his chief men; so the Targum," thou hast broken
"the heads of the mighty men of Pharaoh :" and
gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wil-
derness; either to the wild beasts, called tziim, the
word here used, Isa. xiii. 2l. and may be called a people,
as the ants and coneys are, Prov. xxx. 25, 26. to whom
the dead bodies of Pharaoh and his host, drowned in
the Red sea, were given for food, when they were east
upon the shore, where the Israelites saw them dead,
Exod. xiv. 28. or to the Ichthyophagi, a sort of people
that dwelt by the Red sea, and lived on fishes; and
so the Egyptians became their food, they living upon
the' fish which devoured their bodies, at least some of
them: the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and
Arabic versions, render it, to the people, the Ethiopians;
who, it seems, living upon the borders of Egypt, took
this opportunity, when Pharaoh and his host were
drowned, and seized upon their country; but others
refer it to the people of Israel themselves, as the Tar-


{d} \^Myhlaw\^ atqui Deus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; at Deus'
Vatablus, Cocceius; equidem, Tigurine version; certe, Schmidt.
{e} \^twewvy\^ salutes, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Cocceius,
Gejerus.
{f} Cateches. 13. sect. 13. p. 180. Vid. Amamae Antibarb. Bibl. l. 3.
p. 798, &c.
{g} \^trrwp\^ contrivisti, Pagninus, Montanus; disrupisti, Junius & Tre-
mellius, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis; rupisti, Cocceius.